MacRumors

Apple announced today that the catalog of Walt Disney Records, including soundtracks from Disney's animated files are now available exclusively on the iTunes Music Store through September 30th.

We are proud to offer a way for customers to easily own the classic and contemporary Disney music they know and love, said David Agnew, executive vice president and general manager of the Buena Vista Music Group (BVMG), who oversees Walt Disney Records. We chose to deliver our digital music catalog exclusively on iTunes because it is the leading global online music store.

IDG News details the challenges IBM has faced in ramping up 90nm processor production in their East Fishkill plant. The poor yields were cited by Apple as the reason for the shipping delays on the Xserve G5 last quarter.

The rest of the industry has also seen delays in 90nm Production. AMD is expected to reach commercial production of 90nm chips late this year ("September-October-November"), while Intel appears to be in production at this time.

Apple's new PowerMac G5 updates will likely use the 90nm part from IBM. Readers finally report shipments of their Xserve G5s, indicating that production is proceeding. PowerMac and "metallic" display updates are still expected shortly.

MacCentral reports on a 50,000 iTunes song giveaway from Ben and Jerry's this Tuesday, April 27.

During Ben & Jerry's annual Free Cone Day, the first 50,000 customers to sign up for a sweepstakes for an iPod, iMac, and trip to Ben & Jerry's headquarters will receive a free code for an iTunes Song.

Free Cone Day happens on Tuesday, April 27, 2004 from 12pm-8pm at participating Ben & Jerry's stores. The iTunes giveaway is limited to U.S. customers.

MacCentral reports on Apple demoing a new high quality video codec at the NAB conference.

The newest HD codec is called h.264 or "MPEG-4 Part 10" and represents a "flexible and very high-quality codec"

Unlike other codecs, h.264 is scalable, allowing content creators to write their content for everything from the newest 3G phones to HD, and everything in between.

As an open codec, there were a number of companies demonstrating h.264, though Microsoft was notably absent.

According to one user supplied report, Apple has reportedly filed for a patent for a rotating display, allowing both vertical and horizontal alignments from a single screen. From the summary:

This invention relates generally to a processor-controlled system such as a computer system and, more particularly, but not exclusively, to an electrical arrangement in the system for managing video information for rotating computer display images.

The patent description reportedly appeared on LexisNexus' service dated March 23, 2004, but does not appear to be locatable in the US Patent Office site at the moment.

While pivoting displays have been marketed in the past (Radius Pivot), Apple has never offered one of their own.

Readers are cautioned, however, that this particular patent, however, may simply represent Newton technology patents finally becoming processed. The patent summary notes that the rotation feature would be "especially advantageous for pen-based and hand-held computers". Apple's Newton 2x00 handheld computer did allow for this same portrait and landscape rotation.

BBC reports on the PowerBook/iBook updates today.

In the article, Greg Joswiak refused to speculate about the target for a PowerBook G5 introduction, but did state that "it will be some time before that processor [G5] will be in a notebook". He also points to the long lead time that it took for the G4 to make it into portables when it was first introduced.

Alongside PowerBook and iBook releases, Apple also provided some updates to the Airport Extreme Basestation hardware as well as Airport software.

Airport Software 3.4 is available in Software Update which offers:

Improved antenna output control.
Enhanced logging from your base station which is compatible with syslog.
Performance improvements for WPA security implementations.

Meanwhile, Apple also introduced an updated Airport Extreme Base Station which offers support for Power over Ethernet and UL 2043 fire safety standard support -- both features which would allow users to place the unit in more locations, according to MacCentral:

With the ability to install an AirPort Extreme Base Station anywhere an Ethernet cable can reach comes another change -- the new device supports UL 2043, a fire safety standard for devices that operate in "air-handling spaces," such as the area above a suspended ceiling in a classroom or office -- likely spots for a network installer to install a base station unobtrusively.

Apple released new PowerBooks (press release) and iBooks (press release) today as was widely rumored.

The new models come in the following configurations (See Apple Store):

12.1" iBook G4 @ 1.0GHz, 256MB RAM, Combo Drive. $1099
14.1" iBook G4 @ 1.0GHz, 256MB RAM, Combo Drive. $1299
14.1" iBook G4 @ 1.2GHz, 256MB RAM, Combo Drive. $1499

12.1" PowerBook G4 @ 1.33GHz, 256MB RAM, Combo drive. $1599
12.1" PowerBook G4 @ 1.33GHz, 256MB RAM, SuperDrive. $1799
15.2" PowerBook G4 @ 1.33GHz, 256MB RAM, Combo Drive. $1999
15.2" PowerBook G4 @ 1.5GHz, 512MB RAM, SuperDrive. $2499
17" PowerBook G4 @ 1.5GHz, 512MB RAM, SuperDrive. $2799

Price comparisons will be available on https://macrumors.pricegrabber.com

Notes: All PowerBooks come with Airport Extreme PreInstalled. The 1.5GHz PowerBooks can be upgraded to 128MB graphics memory in the built in ATI Mobility Radeon 9700. Meanwhile, according to whispers, this should be the last G4 PowerBook revision.

Appleinsider provides last minute specs on the rumored iBook and PowerBook releases this week.

According to the rumor site, the iBooks will start at 1.0GHz G4's for the 12" model and top out at 1.2GHz G4s for the top end.

Meanwhile, PowerBooks will settle into two speeds. 1.33GHz G4s for the lower end, and 1.5GHz G4s for the highest end.

Pricing is said to be comparable to current offerings with the exception of the 15" PowerBook/SuperDrive which may come in at $100 less.

MacRumors has also received confirmation of the following specs:

iBook (12.1"TFT/1.0GHz G4/512K L2 Cache /256MB/30GB/DVD-ROM/ CD-RW Combo drive/VGA-out/Enet/56K)
iBook (14.1"TFT/1.0GHz G4/512K L2 Cache /256MB/40GB/DVD-ROM/ CD-RW Combo drive/VGA-out/Enet/56K)
iBook (14.1"TFT/1.2GHz G4/512K L2 Cache /256MB/60GB/DVD-ROM/ CD-RW Combo drive/VGA-out/Enet/56K/APX)

PowerBook G4 (12.1"TFT/1.33GHz/512K L2 /256MB/60GB/DVD-ROM/CD-RW Combo drive/Enet/56K/AirPort/Bluetooth)
PowerBook G4 (12.1"TFT/1.33GHz/512K L2 /256MB/60GB/DVD-R/CD-RW SuperDrive/Enet/56K/AirPort/Bluetooth)
PowerBook G4 (15.2"TFT/1.33GHz /256MB/60GB/DVD-ROM/CD-RW Combo drive/Gig Enet/56K/Bluetooth/AirPort Extreme)
PowerBook G4 (15.2"TFT/1.5GHz /512MB/80GB/DVD-R/CD-RW SuperDrive/Gig Enet/56K/Bluetooth/AirPort Extreme/Backlit Keyboard)
PowerBook G4 (17" TFT/1.5GHz /512MB/80GB/DVD-R/CDRW SuperDrive/Gig Enet/56K/Bluetooth/AirPort Extreme/Backlit Keyboard)

Additionally... one report claims that the 1.5GHz PowerBook will provide a Build To Order option to upgrade the 64MB of video graphics to 128MB.

Apple held their NAB media event today and released the following updates and new products:

- Shake 3.5. (Press Release)
- DVD Studio Pro 3. (Press Release)

- XSan - "an enterprise-class storage networking solution thats surprisingly affordable. Xsan lets multiple computers concurrently access terabytes of storage on Xserve RAID over high-speed Fibre Channel. Now under development, Apple will ship Xsan later this fall for $999." (Press Release)
- Final Cut Pro HD. (Press Release)

- New Application (After Effects competitor): Motion. due in Summer. $299. "Introducing Motion, the only motion graphics package with real-time previews, procedural behavior animation and Final Cut Pro HD integration." (Press Release)

PowerBook and iBook updates are widely expected tomorrow.

MacNN joins the fray and provides their own confirmation that PowerBooks and iBooks will receive updates next week.

According to the site, "Apple will introduce revised 12-inch PowerBooks (two models), two revised 15-inch PowerBooks, one new model of the 12" iBook, two new models of the 14" iBook, and a single high-end 17" PowerBook configuration".

Limited availability is expected next week.

Update: ThinkSecret also provides confirmation of a Monday release of iBooks and PowerBooks.

Reuters reports on Apple's ongoing efforts to launch iTunes Europe this year.

Apple's European chief, Pascal Cagni, promised "When we launch in Europe, we want to do it well". According to Cagni, they are still aiming for a 2004 release but acknowledges a few month delay.

Previous rumors had indicated that licensing issues have been holding back the launch of the European service.

The New York Times reports on efforts by RealNetworks to partner with Apple.

According to the newspaper, an offer was made from RealNetwork's Rob Glaser to Steve Jobs to consider licensing Fairplay -- Apple's Digital Rights Management system -- to RealNetworks to allow compatibility of RealNetwork's music store with the Apple iPod. In exchange, RealNetworks would reportedly make the iPod the primary MP3 player for their music service.

Glaser is reportedly meeting with Apple this week, and is considering WMA as their other alternative if Apple does not accept the offer.

Appleinsider reports that according to reliable sources, both iBooks and PowerBooks will see upgrades next week.

All in all, eight new laptop configurations are expected with two new 12" PowerBooks, two 15" PowerBooks, and a single updated 17" PowerBook (G4). Also expected are two 14" iBook and one 12" iBook revisions.

While Apple is having a media event on Sunday, April 18th, the Portable updates aren't expected until Monday, April 19th, according to Appleinsider.

This information is somewhat consistent with Page 2 reports of preparations for releases next week.

The 2nd Quarter Financial Conference Call took place today.

In the Question and Answer session, the following information was provided:

- Regarding Best Buy Pilot. It ran its natural course and its performance is undergoing analysis at this time.
- IBM's PowerPC 970 90nm was the sole constrained supply causing the Xserve G5 delays. This supply is expected to ramp up over this quarter.
- HP iPod to start shipments in Summer. Already shipping iTunes on HP computers.
- Some iTunes albums are priced higher than $9.99, but this is due to higher prices charged by record labels.

Apple announced their second quarter results which ended March 27, 2004.

For the first quarter, Apple posted a net profit of $46 million ($.12/share) compared to $14 million ($.04/share) in the same quarter last year. Revenue was up 29% to $1.909 billion when compared the same time frame.

749 thousand Macs were shipped while 807 thousand iPods were shipped this quarter. This represents a 5% increase in CPU shipments and a 909% increase in iPod shipments compared to Q2 2003.

The financial conference call will take place at 5pm EST.